Downfall of Hyperion
by WordHungry
Summary: Jack's losing the thrown to Hyperion, and he's not happy about it. Who will wear the crown when the king is gone? Rhys, Timothy? On top of it all, Jack is about to have his personal world turned upside down!
1. Chapter 1

Jack was late for work, which more often an occurrence as he would have liked, but he knew that his Pumpkin would be there working away in his place. The best part about having an intern was that the intern did whatever Jack didn't want to do, or have time to do. Which meant that he could technically sleep in as late as he wanted, and could potentially have less work than the day had actually intended on him having. Jack had been up late spending time with Angel, making sure she got the love and attention that she needed from her only outside interaction. The night had run late during their session of Bunkers and Badasses, and Jack just couldn't say no to his Princess when she asked to play a few more little dungeons.

Rounding the next corner Jack plowed directly into an opposing force. He felt his coffee burn it's way through his shirts and the hem of his jeans. "Sonofabitch! Watch where I'm going!" His voice echoed down the hallway, causing several lowly employees to peek out from their doorways and cubicles.

Standing in front of Jack was Vaughn, more covered in hot coffee than Jack was, a frown set firmly onto his face. "Well, ya know...it was a corner…" He said, trying to rebuttal gently.

"A corner? A corner?! Kiddo, my footsteps don't sound like anyone else's on this station. So, well, ya know, get the picture before you get shot out into space. Got it?! And for that matter, I'm docking this coffee from your pay. Now, if you'll excuse me, I actually have work to do today." Jack barged forward, knocking Vaughn at the shoulder and into the wall with plenty of force.

With a quick glance at the clock in his techno-modified eyes Jack noted the time and pressed on, hoping that his little intern had gotten at least half of his work pile done. Thoughtlessly, Jack stepped into a nearby elevator, only noticing too late that it was full of pions; before he could turn around to leave, the doors closed him in with the lot. His rolled his eyes, feeling as if they may roll so far back in his angst ridden morning that they would never come back to their natural state. Thankfully his baby blue and baby green came back to neutral, leaving him to watch the reflections of everyone in the small space behind him. To his lack of surprise they were all dying over the fact that they were sharing an elevator with "The" Handsome Jack -taking selfies, texting their friends, getting a good whiff of his cologne. A scowl crept onto Jack's face as the elevator music hummed along in the background. He could still feel the heat of his spilled coffee against his stomach.

Gnawing on his bottom lip he waited for what seemed like an eternity.

The doors opened to the world of the lunchroom, thousands of little worker bees were taking their breaks and inhaling their meals. In the air hung the scent of almost a hundred restaurants, all chose by Jack because he liked all of them -everything from Thai to the iconic Skag-kabob. For a moment he considered grabbing lunch for just himself, but then thought otherwise and stopped by the Thai place and ordered 'the usual.'

"Pumpkin! I brought lunch!" Jack chimed as he bust in through the office doors, holding his bags of food up in the air as if they were trophies. The surprised expression of Rhys' face was priceless, and fluttering to the floor were what had once been a stack of papers from his desk. "You look a little startled! Relax, Kiddo, you're fine. Come on, clear your table." A soft blush bloomed onto Rhys' face as he shuffled the papers and quickly made room.

"You didn't have to bring lunch, Jack...I was gonna go on my break when you got here." Rhys smiled softly as he spoke, picking up the papers that had fallen onto the floor.

Jack enjoyed the view before closing the space between them and plopping the food bags on the desk. "I know you like Thai, so I got you some Thai. Now you can just eat here during your break! Which is great, because then you can fill me in on whatever you have been working on today. How 'bout it, Pumpkin?"

Rhys stood, setting his collection of papers aside before peeking into the bags. "I think I can handle that," Jack leaned in and pecked his cheek with a soft kiss, "thank you for bringing me lunch. As for paperwork, it's not all that interesting. Just filing from yesterday, that neither of us wanted to do yesterday. Remember?"

"Yeah." Jack hummed as he dug into the bags and began to divvy up the dishes and side dishes.

"Hey Jack?"

Jack glanced over, noting that the tone of Rhys' voice was a little more soft than usual. He cocked a brow and cracked open his chops sticks, landing in his seat. "Yeah, Pumpkin?"

Across from Jack, Rhys seemed to look a little uncomfortable, wringing the yellow tie that Jack liked in his hands nervously. Jack watched as his Pumpkin quickly built up the courage to speak, "Jack, I want to stay the night at your place. Please. I'm tired of playing in the office, I want to know that you're in this as much as I am. I want….I want cuddles and sharing drinks, making a dinner together once a week. Things like that. So if you want this to keep going, you'll have to agree to my terms….okay?"

Rhys had managed to take Jack by surprise -that was the last thing Jack would have expected to hear out of the kid. Jack steepled his fingers and thought for a moment, then glanced up from his, still untouched, food. "Rebuttal. We cuddle with a movie, of my choice. I can drink you under the counter with just my coke, but I'll take a drunk you any night!" Jack chuckled and stuck a piece of shrimp into his mouth, he then continued while chewing, "I like cooking, so," a pause to swallow, "you get to help, maybe, once a week. At my discretion, as my sous chef. But, you can pick the meal when I let you help. How's that sound, Cupcake? Good?"

"No." Rhys stated more firmly than Jack was expecting. "Counter-rebuttal. I want dinner once a week. If I have to deal with your cruddy taste of movies, you have to deal with me being over for dinner once a week. That or no deal."

After a moment of thought, Jack nodded in agreement, watching Rhys' face ease into a small, triumphant smile. "Yeah, yeah, Kid. I agree to the terms and conditions! Now, eat your food before it gets cold, would ya? I paid good money for that!" Jack cracked a smile as he playfully chided his play thing.

"Jack, you own the restaurant, you didn't pay for that…" Rhys said with a sigh as he picked his dish off of the desk.


	2. Chapter 2

The next Friday night had been agreed to be "date night," by both Jack and Rhys. Rhys had spent all day fighting butterflies off by trying to keep busy, even though his mind kept trailing off to the events they had planned for the night. Jack had suggested an old Pandoran movie -Rhys had no idea what it would be about, but he was sure it would have humor that would be difficult to make sense of- but dinner was going to be homemade pizza. It was one of Rhys' favorite things to make, aside from sugar cookies when it came to the holidays.

Standing just outside of the coffee shop, Rhys took a joyful sip of his mocha and proceeded to the lunch area to meet up with Vaughn. He found his friend at the wall by the windows that showed the beautiful moon down below the base. "Hey, how's it going?" Vaughn asked as Rhys sat down and opened his sandwich wrapping.

"Pretty well, actually." Rhys smiled as he dressed his sandwich with some extra sauce he had ordered on the side, "and I won't be home tonight, so you won't have to make extra dinner. I'm staying...at a friend's house, tonight." He could feel his cheeks warming with a light blush.

"A friend? I thought I was your only friend." Vaughn chuckled and popped a fry into his mouth. "So what's she like? Have I seen her around the office anyplace?"

Rhys nibbled on his lip thoughtfully, knowing that his and Jack's relationship hadn't been made public yet. Not wanting to invoke the wrath of Jack, he decided to be vague. "Well, they're tall, brunette, cocky, kinda short tempered...but nothing I can't handle. They seem really into me." Stopping himself before he continued to ramble on, he shoved his rye sandwich into his mouth and overstuffed it.

"They sound nice!" Vaughn grinned, reaching over to give his friend a pat on the shoulder. "Oh hey, it's Handsome Jack." His smiled shifted a lax frown, his gaze trailing over Rhys' shoulder.

Rhys felt his heart dance over a beat as he spun in his seat to see Jack. But it wasn't Jack, it was Timothy posing as Jack for a public appearance. Of course he knew he was one of the select few people who would be able to tell the difference, but he had to hand it to Timothy, the guy knew how to act. The only real difference -unless Timothy was having an off day- was the way his eyes didn't hold contact the same way. Most people wouldn't catch it, but Rhys had spent enough time looking at Jack's eyes to know the difference. Turning back to Vaughn, he found a face full of hamburger looking back at him.

They both laughed, until Rhys felt a hand firmly grip his shoulder. He quickly cleaned his mouth off with a napkin and looked up to see who was attached to the hand.

"Hey Kiddo! We need to have a little chit chat. 'Kay?" The Timothy-Jack said rather convincingly. Rhys glanced between the poser and Vaughn, then gave a quick nod before raising from his chair.

"Rhys?"

"I'll be right back Vaughn, it's about a meeting later. Keep my sandwich company!" Rhys lied as smoothly as he could, wondering what Timothy-Jack wanted to speak of. The two quickly left the lunchroom, and Vaughn's confused expression, and walked into one of the vacant offices. "What's up? Jack said you weren't allowed to talk to me outside of his office." Rhys crossed his arms over his chest as Timothy locked the door to their secret space.

"Something's up." Timothy spun on his heel and leaned against the door, mirroring Rhys' posture. His face -still looking like Jack- took on a more TImothy expression, more concerned in nature. "Jack has been sending me out a lot lately. I mean, like, a lot. I've checked his schedule, he's got me doing anything public. Has he just been staying in the office, having his way with you or something? Because, he swears that he's been doing something important, but I would know about it. Right?"

Rhys thought for a moment, letting the new information sink in; Jack hadn't mentioned anything about having Timothy doing everything. His eyebrows drew together as he tried to come up with some kind of reason for Jack's motive. "Jack is Jack, I'm sure he has…...a reason? And no, we haven't done anything in the last week or so. Which is weird, come to think of it. But I'm sure everything's fine! He's probably just working through some stuff on the side. You don't look like you believe me...I'm not sure I even believe me." Rhys' gaze dropped to the floor, which seemed to need a good sweeping. He scuffed some of the dirt with the toe of his boot, "should I talk to him about it?"

"I think you should, buddy." Timothy took Rhys by the shoulders and took on a more serious aura. "I just want to make sure he's not cheating on you or something. Ya know, since you guys aren't public he might think it would be okay. I don't want to see my friend get hurt...ya know?"

"Thanks...I'll look into it. We're hanging out tonight, I'll bring it up then. I'm sure it's nothing like that! He doesn't seem the type!" Rhys grumbled half heartedly, brushing past Timothy and leaving the room. He spent the rest of the day avoiding the office and worrying about Jack cheating on him. He wasn't sure what to think, because he wasn't entirely sure if Jack was the type to cheat or not; Rhys had thought he was the only person in Jack's personal life. At the end of the day his phone rang, it was Jack. It took a moment for Rhys to work up the courage to swipe the screen, "Hello?"

"Hey Cupcake! I'm gonna be a little late coming home tonight, so you can let yourself in. I've already uploaded the security systems with your bi-sig, so you can just walk right through the door! You can even get the dough started for dinner!"

Jack's voice came through the phone, but Rhys noted an odd strangeness to his tone. There seemed to be a certain desperation to it. "Yeah, okay. I'll head over there now and get everything started up. Is everything okay? You need help with any-"

'Nope! I'm all set Pumpkin, but thanks!" Jack sounded like he was forcing a normal tone. Rhys frowned and let out a small sigh. "Catch you at home, Pumpkin!" Before Rhys could protest, Jack had already hung up and left an empty line to hum in Rhys' ear.

Jack set his phone down on the table next to his lounge chair. "Take it easy would yoa?! You're over there fucking my arm with that needle, and I remember giving consent! Just stick it in and leave it the fuck alone!" He screamed at the slender woman trying to slide the needle for the IV just below his rolled up sleeve. "Oh, you're the worst. Just leave! Get out! I'll do it myself! If I sit here and wait for you to do it, we'll be dicking around all day." Jack's words oozed with anger and venom as he yanked the needle from the shaking hands of the nurse. She left the room quickly, making sure to shut the door behind her, leaving Jack in the hospital room by himself.

Slipping the needle in, Jack watched the drip begin to feed into his arm. He had no idea how he was going to tell Rhys. There was a good chance that Rhys would leave him over something like this. He swallowed, feeling how dry his mouth was with the worry over date night.


End file.
